Musings on Christian Life and Practice

What are you “for”?

In my weaker moments, I like to think that I am an insightful critic, with a keen intellect and powerful discernment skills. Fortunately, something usually happens to wake me up and reason soon prevails. The truth is that virtually everything I believe, even the principles by which I decide what I believe, are second-hand, received from someone else. This post is a good example of that. The idea came from another blog I read. If you want to read the article that inspired me, you can find it here. I highly recommend it.

How often do we read or hear an idea presented and find ourselves reacting against it? It could be a political idea, a religious doctrine, or just a proposal for widening the street. When I was a young adult I remember a Christian leader who published a magazine whose sole purpose was to expose religious error. Admittedly, I usually disagreed with his arguments, but that’s not the point I wish to make. What struck me even then was the intense negativity of virtually every article he wrote. If you read his magazine, you had no doubt as to the myriad of ideas and doctrines he opposed. I could tell you virtually everything he was against. What was not as apparent, were the doctrines and beliefs he was for.

The next time you hear or read something with which you disagree, try resisting the temptation to frame that disagreement in negative terms, even in your own mind. Instead, turn it around. If you disagree with a certain position, is it just because you disagree, or is it perhaps because you are “for” something else, a different vision which you believe is healthier or more beneficial. Why do you react negatively to the point of theology or doctrine that was presented? Is it just a matter of tradition (“that wasn’t what I was raised to believe”)? If so, perhaps we would do well to consider if the alternative might have merit.

Maybe you are genuinely convinced that there is error in a particular belief. It has been my experience that if this is so, we should normally be able to find a good reason for our opposition, more specifically a positive belief, even a vision for a better, more fulfilling alternative. If we cannot frame the issue in a more positive direction, perhaps we should consider if the intensity of our opposition is justified.

It is perhaps human nature that as we get older, we begin thinking about what kind of legacy we will leave when we are gone. I have determined that I do not want to be remembered for what I was against. I would rather stand for positive beliefs and constructive principles. No, I will never convince everyone, but I would rather spend my remaining time on this earth telling people what I am “for” rather than fighting what I am “against.”